An unsolicited email newsletter by ClashDaily has started showing up in my inbox. Normally I ignore, unsubscribe or report unwanted spam, but I have decided to let this one live for awhile to better understand their editorial worldview.
One blog entry offers "5 Questions To Smack A Liberal Progressive With" and cites a recent post from the blog of Allen West:
Here is my response to the five questions offered, below the fold.
1. If former President George W. Bush was un-American for adding $4 trillion to the national debt, then what is President Barack Hussein Obama who is on his way to adding $8 trillion — and still has two more years to go? Yep, under Obama the national debt has risen from $10.67 trillion to almost $17.5 trillion.
1. A one minute Internet search yields conflicting data. For example,
this. I'll assume for now that my data is no better or worse than your data. It is well documented however that the GWB tax cut in the run-up to war is a huge reason for the rapid swing from Clinton-era surpluses to debt in both Bush and Obama administrations. So my question is, does Congressional leadership have the political will to restore tax levels to where they were in the late 90s, still very low by historical standards?
2. If as Obama states, “we leave no man behind,” then what of Marine Sergeant Andrew Tahmooressi, Pastor Saeed Abedini and Kenneth Bae — not to mention still-imprisoned Meriam Yahia Ibrahim – who had her chains removed after giving birth to her daughter, Maya? (And by the way, she is still under a death sentence under Sharia law for marrying a Christian). Nah, those folks don’t help Obama’s political agenda and certainly aren’t as important as recognizing illegal immigrant children “dreamers” at the White House.
2. I'll grant you this one. Our country can work more effectively toward releasing all U.S. citizens who are detained internationally. If any of them are determined to have violated legally recognized laws, that can be addressed in U.S. courts. Question, who should we trade to Mexico for the release of Sgt. Tahmooressi, for example?
3. When the average price of gasoline hit $2.50 a gallon, liberals and their media accomplices went apoplectic (you may have to define that word to a liberal friend) on George W. Bush. Why so silent now, when it’s $3.67?
3. The real cost of gas is closer to $10 per gallon than to any of the numbers you've cited. The Obama administration has addressed the need for renewable energy development. I'll add the need for honest accounting: Military costs to defend oil access must be counted as oil costs. Otherwise this is enormous social welfare that U.S. taxpayers are giving to multinational oil companies in exchange for keeping gas prices artificially low - and they're still making huge profits.
4. If the late and former President Richard Nixon resigned over a bad case of “breaking and entering” (and the liberal media made a big hoopla over that), what does it take for Barack Hussein Obama to consider the same? Or does the color of skin trump content of character in America now? By the way, I’m planning on my computer crashing next year around tax return time.
4. A President breaking and entering is a non-partisan issue. Having grown up during Watergate, I do not recall people from any party praising what Nixon did as a good idea. Furthermore, the GWB administration opened the doors to undisclosed wiretapping post 9-11. I am dismayed that President Obama did not reign this in when he first took office, and I will not give future presidents a fee pass for continuing to ignore or expand the practice.
Like everything touched by the Internet, privacy in communication has been inevitably changed. Our nations's next "moon shot" could be an effort to understand and reconsider every aspect of privacy laws that served us from the birth of America through about 1995. We need to return to the underlying tenets that ensure individual rights to security and privacy as a starting point.
5. If it is racist to disagree with the proven failed policies of Barry Soetoro, oops, I mean Barack Hussein Obama, then what is it when liberal progressives disrespect, dismiss, denigrate, demean, disparage, discredit and seek to destroy black conservative Republicans? Funny, all those “D” words come from the Democrat party. Don’t believe me, just look for the responses to this post from liberal progressives (so predictable).
5. Are you open to accepting that your snark about president Obama's name disqualifies the question and may invite the kinds of negative comments you are complaining about? I say "invite" because it's still someone's choice in how they choose to respond.
Allen, I know you only through your documented personal history and what I've read in the media over the past several years. If I acknowledge as a starting place that I really do not know you, and therefore cannot write you off as some stereotype that I disagree with, will you do the same for me and others in return?
If your answer is yes, then let's consider your question about disparagement of minority conservatives. If a person is both acting in their integrity and a minority, the only thing I choose to see is the integrity. When I meet someone who ignores the integrity of others due to racial prejudice, or who acts without integrity regardless of race, then it is appropriate for me to respond to that, through my integrity.
Rather than offer a general statement about liberals and blacks, can you offer specific people and circumstances? Help me get to know a few of the cases you're most concerned about, and I'll respectfully consider what you're saying.
And finally, this:
Now, just so you’re aware, be careful when asking these questions to be outside the range of spittle and frothing of the mouth. As well, stand clear so as not to be struck by a liberal progressives wild arm-flinging tantrums as they throw themselves on the floor in a mad rage. These are the telltale symptoms of liberals exposed to the truth — similar to exposing vampires to light. But know that this reaction affirms you are right on the issues and confirms the liberal progressive inability to intellectually respond.
Allen, you prep your readers to assume that no dialog with any liberal progressives is possible. Does this mean that the question poser is encouraged to ask the questions, invite anger, then either get agreement or walk away from any disagreement without further dialog? Why ask questions while anticipating a non-answer? If your intention is to have a dialog, I respectfully ask for your consideration of responses you may hear with an open mind and an open heart.